APOD: 2026 August 16 – Milky Way over Yellowstone

Source: This report is based on an official public release from NASA. PULSE organizes and summarizes public government communications. Read the original release →

Discover the cosmosEach day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Explanation:The Milky Way was not created by an evaporating lake.

The colorful pool of water, about 10 meters across, is known asSilex Springand is located inYellowstone National ParkinWyoming,USA.

Illuminated artificially, the colors are caused by layers ofbacteriathat grow in thehot spring.

Steam rises offthe spring, heated by undergroundmagmaassociated with the Yellowstone Hotspot.

Unrelated and far in the distance, thecentral bandof our Milky Way Galaxyarches high overhead, a band lit by billions of stars.

The picture features a 16-image panorama taken in 2014.

If the Yellowstone Hotspotcausesanother supervolcanic eruptionas it did about640,000 years ago, alarge part of North Americawould be affected.

Growing Gallery:Solar Eclipse of 2026 August 12Tomorrow’s picture:eclipse shower